Legend of Korra Book 3 Chapters 12 and 13 review - Into the Void/Venom of the Red Lotus

It's time to look into the Korra book 3 finale, as the Red Lotus approach their victory

Chapter 12 – Enter the Void

OK, this episode got dark quickly

OK, after a few minutes of lighter moments at the beginning with Bolin making bird noises and Naaga and Pabu playing tug of war with Mako’s scarf, it’s time to get into the gritty parts of the episode

Rule one of rescue guys, check under the hoods to make sure they’re not decoys. Mako and Bolin are tricked by Ming Hua and Ghazan. I honestly thought Zaheer would keep his word and release the airbenders, but apparently he has other uses for them (no idea what these uses are mind you, but)

What follows are two very different action scenes, with Tenzin barely able to walk alone (but he’s alive everyone, panic over) they still have to outrun Ghazan’s lava, as the turns the place into magma. The trapdoor section is a nice reference to TLA, as that’s how the fire nation smuggled items out of the temple, when it was inhabited by the mechanist and his son.

Bolin really shined here, keeping the lava from reaching them, and then unlocking his potential for lava-bending. It’s nice to see the build-up to this, and this payoff did not disappoint. Bolin has found new confidence in himself that he’s always been lacking.

The other action scene takes place on Lahima’s peak, upon discovering her betrayal a major battle begins between the metal clan foot-soldiers and P’li, with Korra and Tonraq facing off against Zaheer. Korra holds her own surprisingly well considering she’s bound in change and her attack methods are very limited.

There was a lot of rumours about Su Yin being in the Red Lotus, and looking back there is a fair amount of evidence for it (starting with her belief that having a queen is an old fashioned notion) but the relationship between her and Lin seems to have been repaired, as Lin trusts her enough to put her life on the life distracting P’li. The way P’li is both brutal and clever. And while we never see or hear her demise, we see just enough that we know what happened

Of course, with P’li we get the biggest surprise of the episode. Zaheer’s ability to fly. It was a while before I realised the title of the episode ‘into the void’ was a reference to Guru Lahima’s poem. With P’li’s death (nicely foreshadowed with a scene earlier in the episode) Zaheer had no Earthly tether, and entered the void. His ability to fly immediately gave him an edge, and he escaped with Tonraq barely surviving the fight (had there been more water around, maybe the fight would’ve been more even) and surviving only thanks to a metal-bending captain, voiced by Zelda Williams, daughter of the late Robin Williams (nice tribute, even if it was intentional)

We also see Kai shine a little in this episode, as he rescues Tenzin, Asami, Bolin and Mako on his bison (I amazed it could take the weight, even though I could see it struggle) I think that Bison is officially gonna be Kai’s, wonder what he’s gonna name it.

All of that and we get to see Korra chained up at the end, before we fade to a cliff-hanger

Of course since both episodes came out, we quickly see its resolution

Rating 9.5/10

Episode 13 – Venom of the Red Lotus

Book 3 has been the greatest series of Korra we’ve had. It’s toned down the political and philosophical implications that were the leading factors in book 1 and 2 (not to say there weren’t there, they particular) but that doesn’t mean they weren’t ambitious. 5 villains (the 4 red lotus members + the Earth Queen) they do a decent job making each one feel distinct, but I wouldn’t say any of them got any character other than Zaheer.

But we come to the end of the arc of book 3, where the action is freaking awesome. Studio Mir have outdone themselves this season, this action scene one the best I have ever seen. Background items are seamlessly moved into the foreground (none of that tone shift you see is worse/cheaper animation) and the flow of the fights are fantastic

That said, I can nitpick this episode, and I will later

The fight scene of round 2 between Korra and Zaheer, was extremely intense, with Korra in a rage and forced into the avatar state there’s obvious signs that she has less control than she would normally, but it does enforce a lot about how Korra and Aang are very different. Even with Aang in a rage I don’t think he’d ever lose it like this, getting physically strong enough to break through the platinum (and possibly even bend the platinum at one point)

There are obvious comparisons you can place this battle to the Aang vs Ozai battle in Avatar: The Last Airbender, with the obvious location similarities and attack techniques. The difference is, whilst Zaheer does run, he does so with purpose, and manages to get a few hits in on Korra as well. In the end succumbs to the poison and is too weak to fight.

Meanwhile in the caves we get a rematch with Bolin vs Ghazan and Mako vs Ming Hua. With Bolin having discovered Lava-bending and far less water being around, the matches are far more even, Mako even has Ming Hua on the ropes. She drops into a water source and Mako finally uses his lightning bending skills. People ask why he didn’t use it earlier, and I think the answer can be drawn for where he aimed in this. He may be able to produce lightning, but he doesn’t have the deadly accuracy Azula did, which is why having Ming Hua in a water source was a perfect opportunity.

It’s good to see even with lava-bending at his disposal, Bolin could not beat Ghazan alone, not because I think Bolin’s weak, but because he’s a lot newer to the skill than Ghazan. With Mako’s help however, it’s nice to see them win together. Bolin and Mako have gotten a fair bit closer this season, with Bolin’s newfound confidence, and Mako losing some of his uptight attitude that he’d been gaining in season 2.

Jinora also gets her time to shine this episode, as she leads the air-nation into defeating Zaheer before the death of Korra, her astral projection at the beginning of the episode allowed her to see the metallic poison they used in time for Su Yin to extract it

The ending leaves a bittersweet taste. The ordeal Korra went through has left her in a wheelchair, with a recovery time that may stretch into months. She was clearly depressed by this situation, barely talking at all, and even crying near the very end of the episode.

This series has also brought Korra and Asami closer together than they had been previously. Their relationship was one that got off to the rockiest of starts, but series 3 frequently had them paired up and the result is she is the one who offered to help her, with Mako and Bolin saying nothing during the finale

It’s nice to see another plot-thread from original airbenders come to fruition as Jinora finally gets her air-bending tattoos (it’s amazing how similar to Aang she looks with a shaven head.) Tenzin’s promise to help the world as the Avatar recuperates is a touching reminder of how far Korra and Tenzin’s relationship has come.

This season is probably the most open ending. The Red Lotus are still out there, all be it with P’li dead, Ming Hua and Ghazan missing (presumed dead) and Zaheer imprisoned, and Earth Kingdom is in chaos. We also have the possibility that Korra will not have fully recovered by the time book 4 comes around.

Nitpick central folks:

Why did Jinora wait until after she was free and hugged Kai before saying she knew where Korra was, considering she saw them about to poison her?

Why didn’t Zaheer just kill her normally? The next Avatar would be born under the now in chaos Earth Kingdom, and with a red lotus spies, it would not be difficult to find him/her, extract and enact Unalaq’s original plan. Even then, they could’ve easily brought the world to their desire before the Avatar would be powerful enough to stop them

Bolin’s reputation as Sokka-Lite was not helped by him joking the captured bad-guy mirroring Sokka joking about the fire-lord

Zaheer suddenly became rather cartoonish near the end, giggling menacingly when Korra was succumbing to the poison, and rambling about his point of view once he realised that he’d failed.

What happened to the other Red Lotus members? They just seemed to disappear

Rating 9.7/10

For more reviews click here

Images used in this review are from The Legend of Korra and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use.